United (almost) breaks weddings too

Milan Vrekic, left, and his fiancee, Jenya Ghyshina, await a ride back from Halifax Stanfield Airport, Monday. The couple was bumped from their flight to Las Vegas, for their wedding later this week. The two are hoping to fly out Tuesday. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

Milan Vrekic and Jenya Ghyshina are young, in love, and are scheduled to get married this Thursday in Las Vegas.

But for several hours on Monday, their Vegas wedding and the $6,000 the Halifax couple paid for it looked to be up in the air.

"We had everything booked and everything paid for in Vegas," Vrekic said in a cell phone interview from Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Monday afternoon, hours after their flight departed without the couple on it.

Vrekic, 27, and his fiance, 26, booked the wedding trip two months ago, which included a United Halifax-Newark-Las Vegas flight, a week at the Hard Rock Hotel and a wedding ceremony at Caesars Palace.

"It was her dream for the past many years," Vrekic said of Ghyshina's desire to tie the knot in Vegas. "She fell in love with the idea after watching tons of Hollywood movies."

But the would-be bride and groom’s dreams were dashed Monday morning after they arrived at the airport to find United had no record of them leaving on the 12:10 p.m. flight to Newark, or anywhere else.

"We showed up at 10 a.m. to check in and they told us our names are not on the flight list. Even though we were billed and had the confirmation number," said Vrekic.

After spending three hours with the airline on the phone, the couple managed to convince United they were legitimate customers, and they were transferred to an Air Canada flight that was to depart late Monday afternoon, he said.

"It was supposed to leave at 4:10 p.m. That didn't happen," said the frustrated software engineer.

The Air Canada flight was overbooked and airport spokeswoman Jennifer Delorey Lyon said a number of flights were delayed earlier in the day due to fog conditions, which created a domino effect on the flight schedule.

Vrekic and Ghyshina were scrambling to find another way to Nevada the entire day, while waiting with their luggage at the airport. They feared they'd never get to the church on time.

United representatives told them they could possibly get to Vegas on Thursday, but Vrekic said it wouldn't be in time for their 7 p.m. wedding.

"We simply couldn't commit to that," he said.

Vrekic said the payment for their wedding was non-refundable, and he feared "thousands of dollars have gone to ruin."

He was also upset that some relatives and friends from other locales who are invited to the festivities were already on their way to Vegas.

"That's why we booked so far in advance," he said. "We wanted to make sure everything was right. It just sets off a whole chain of events. This is ridiculous."

Vrekic said there was no explanation how United representatives, with whom the couple arranged the flight by phone, somehow lost their booking. "They tell us that they simply don't know."

More than eight hours and a heap load of stress later, Vrekic and his fiance learned they'll be on a flight to Vegas on Tuesday at 4:10 p.m.

A United spokesman from Chicago said late Monday afternoon it's still not clear how the mix-up happened, but the airline wanted to ensure the couple didn't miss their wedding.

"We see they had a reservation (that) for some reason, they weren't ticketed (for)," said Charlie Hobart. "I'm not certain whether we made a mistake or they made a mistake. We wanted to work on reconfirming them."

The near-newlyweds will be given something for their trouble as well, Hobart said.

"We will offer them goodwill compensation. The amount, I do not know. We are contacting them directly to let them know. We'll definitely apologize ... to them for the inconvenience."

The pair, who met in Halifax two years ago, are scheduled to honeymoon in Vegas for a few days after Thursday's wedding.

Local musician Dave Carroll, of Sons of Maxwell, wrote a protest song and made a video about United Airlines, after his checked guitar was broken on a United flight in 2008. The song United Breaks Guitars and video landed on YouTube about a year later, comically depicting United's response. It went worldwide and made Carroll something of a consumer star.